Eagletarian Blog

The Eagles did not play Sunday, but that does mean they were not talked about throughout the broadcasts on the various NFL shows from the NFL Network show at 9 a.m. to Sunday Night Football late into the evening. The topic was an obvious one, and one that will not go away over the final four weeks of the season: What about Andy Reid's future? The NFL Network delved into this more than the other shows that we caught.

* Michael Irvin on the NFL Network: “If anybody in the National Football League has earned an opportunity to see this thing through, certainly Andy Reid has. Bar none, period. I say you sign DeSean Jackson, you bring this thing back together and you say give us an offseason, and let us get back at it next year.”

* Michael Lombardi on the NFL Network: "Andy Reid has to change the team in terms of getting some toughness. He has to change the culture in the locker room. It has to become a locker room that focuses more about being a good team as opposed to what’s next on the payroll or what I get rewarded for in terms of my game check. This team lacks a true toughness in the sense that when they get the ball inside the red zone, they can’t really pound it in; it has to be deceptions and decoys. The smart play here is to bring Andy Reid back for another year, but also I think they’re going to have to rearrange the chairs of their coaching staff defensively. I don’t think they can go through another season the way they went through this year. Ultimately, get tougher and fix the defense."

* Jason LaCanfora on the NFL Network: "Andy Reid, I don’t believe he’ll be fired at this point based on what I’ve heard, but there could be friction about the composition of the staff, defensive coordinator, does [Juan] Castillo stay or go? So maybe that gets things going in another direction, but I think he’ll be back."

* Fox analyst Howie Long when asked if Reid will be the head coach of the Eagles next year: “Yes. I think there might be some staff changes and could be some personnel changes. What do they do with DeSean Jackson?”

* As he reported on Pro Football Talk earlier in the day, NBC's Mike Florio offered this on Sunday Night Football: “Michael Vick will be back and he will want Andy Reid to be back. I am told Andy Reid will keep his job if he will admit that hiring Juan Castillo to be the defensive coordinator was a mistake, and move on from Castillo. If he doesn’t, Reid will be fired.”